


You reap what you sow

by DarkShadeless



Series: Magnolia Drive [9]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: (they get to watch at the very least), Gen, The Inevitable Showdown, WE SHALL FIND OUT, small town drama, this town meeting is sure to be one for the history books, will Annie lose her wonderful gloomy street to the campaign of the Neighborhood Association?, will Nancy get her way?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 18:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21257612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShadeless/pseuds/DarkShadeless
Summary: Or so they say.





	You reap what you sow

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!

“Alright, folks! Quiet! Can we have a little quiet, please?” Gustav’s voice overshadows the din in the townhall easily, though no one could claim he is shouting. There are times you really notice why he’s mayor. This is one of them.

Slowly, the people of Laona settle in to listen. Annie, where she has picked a place further back, herds Mimi and Kyu closer. They’re so jittery… Probably something they picked up from her. She’s been nervous all day.

“The next thing on the docket is,” Gustav consults his notes and looks more than a little uncomfortable, doing so. “The Neigborhood Association and their plans for Magnolia drive. Nancy?”

“Thank you, mayor.” Nancy, perfectly coiffed as always, rises from her seat in the first row like a primped stick and takes the ‘stage’. It’s not much of one, all told, but she manages to make it a production anyway. “Originally, I was going to present you a collage of our progress today. Sadly, seeing as our efforts have been delayed,” she throws a dark look in Annie’s direction. Never one to play doormat for her, Annie returns it in kind. “That isn’t possible. But I have good news!”

_Oh dear. What now?_

She had been guiltily relieved when the gardener had bitten out his teeth on the local pokemon population but she had been dreading Nancy’s next move ever since. Apparently, the other shoe is about to drop.

“We have hired an exterminator,” _A **what**? _“and he has finalized his assessment. He’s here today to present his findings and provide us with a timeline. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to getting something done about this problem, so, without further ado… Mr. Hardison, if you would.”

_Mr. Hardison. _Annie feels as if her entire body has been doused with ice water. An _exterminator_. And she _helped_ him. She _served him tea_. And he- He chatted with her! About her babies! And her pokemon friends! As if he wasn't about to- to- What kind of person _does that_?

Mimi and Kyu, sensing her distress, crowd against her feet but she can barely feel them. They can’t be _serious_. All those poor pokemon!

But it is Mr. Hardison. At Nancy’s wave he gets up and takes the place she cedes to him. He waves at the residents awkwardly. “Hello, folks. My name’s Hardison, I’m with Decidueye Inc. and me and my partner,” he nods towards his Decidueye, “have been giving Magnolia drive a once over these past few days. Here’s what we found…”

* * *

This is his least favorite part of his job, honestly, but Hardison didn’t get to where he is by shrinking away from his duties, no matter what his poke-partner likes to grump. He can hold this kind of presentation in his sleep.

It’s important to be honest but not… panic the locals in cases like these. Nobody likes to hear they’ve got Trevenant in the backyard, so to speak. He takes his time, he lays it all out in a calm, professional tone and he lets it settle. His employer, Miss Nancy, alternates between going pale as milk and a shine that looks suspiciously like triumph.

… yeah. That’s probably gonna change soon. “So there it is. That’s the situation.” The townhall is so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Time for the tough part. The part people like to hear even less than they want to know about what goes bump behind the woodshed. “And I have to tell you right now, I’m not going to be able to handle this for you.”

A murmur goes through the room. Miss Nancy looks surprised for all but a second before her features harden in steely determination. Tough as nails, that one, huh? “I see. Understandable. If you could give the Neighbourhood Association a reference on who could, we would be grateful. I’m sure you know someone?”

Hardison takes a bracing breath. Yeah, they’ll have to get reimbursed from the city, won’t they? Again. “No, Miss-”

“Oh. Well. That’s too bad, I suppose-“

He pushes on. Sometimes there’s really nothing for it. “Because no one worth their certificate will take this job.”

Nobody in the hall seems to even breathe. Miss Nancy is back to being white as a sheet. There’s something in her eyes that might make a lesser man seriously reconsider what he just said. Thankfully, and how funny is it he has to be thankful for that, Hardison has the nerves it takes to play catch with a Traunmagil. “_What?_”

“Miss, you called me in for a consultation on pest control, to remove invasive species from places they don’t belong. That’s not what you have.” It isn’t. It would be something else if the Spinarak had come in, chewed up the canopy and driven out the local wildlife but if something like that happened it happened some time ago. “You have a fully functional ecosystem out there. There’s not a lick I can or should do about that and neither will any of my colleagues.”

And that’s, predictably, when pandemonium breaks lose.

* * *

Annie doesn’t really hear much of the hubbub that follows. Her mind is blank with relief. He’s not going to hunt down all of her little friends after all. Nobody will. They will get to stay right where they are.

Well, almost.

“- no reason to be worried, folks. I’m gonna have to call this in anyhow, I’ll do that for you. Once the Pokemon Rangers have had a look-“

“Pokemon Rangers?!” A small and petty piece of Annie’s heart takes vicious enjoyment at how shrill Nancy’s voice sounds. She tries not to but it’s a lost cause.

Hardison doesn’t even blink an eye. He has taken the whole uproar with admirable aplomb. “Yes. They’ll put up some safeguards, that kind of thing. There are a few pretty rare pokemon out there, Miss. Honestly, I expect they’ll probably going to want to set up shop in town, maybe preserve that whole patch of forest under the Conservation Act of ’05.”

It’s the talk of the town for weeks and the high point of Annie’s entire month when Nancy, upon hearing the word ‘Conservation’, faints on the spot.

* * *

“Mr. Hardison!” She manages to catch him before he leaves, if barely. Though ‘leave’ might be a little generous. Mr. Hardison freezes in the act of climbing out the back window of the townhall and glances at her with a harried look on his face. That poor man. The Neighbourhood Association has been hounding him for hours. Almost everyone else has long gone home.

When he sees no one but her he deflates. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Deci.” His Decidueye wastes no time whacking him in the shin for that bit of manners.

“Hey!”

Annie can’t help but laugh at their bickering. It makes tears prickle in her eyes, though that might be the relief she’s still coasting on. “No worries. I just wanted to thank you.” There’s not much else she can think to say. She felt as if there was more but… there isn’t. If there is she can’t find the words. Annie smiles, helplessly.

Mr. Hardison looks away and huffs awkwardly. “Just doing my job, Miss.”

“Still. Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.” Her home and all her pokemon friends will be safe. There’s nothing more important to her in the whole world. Well… maybe one thing. Annie pets Mimi and Kyu’s heads absently. “So, thank you.”

She already said that, didn’t she?

A faint squeal draws Annie from her grasp for a proper goodbye. “Oh dear. You should go.” Mr. Hardison’s brow furrows. “That was the backdoor of the hall. Always a bit creaky.”

Indeed, not a second after she says that the sharp click of Nancy’s heels thunders through the hall in staccato.

“Oh, _sh- sheep!_” He barely catches himself. Annie has no idea if he does that because of her or her babies but she appreciates it either way. Her darlings don’t need to be learning bad words. “Was a pleasure seeing you, Miss! Gotta run!”

“Have a good trip!”

They’re out the window so quick she’s not sure they hear her, but that’s alright. All is well that ends well, as they say.


End file.
